Fishing Pole Tip Replacement

The quality tip at the end of your fishing pole is just a wet slippery trail away from being bent and mangled. Many fishing trips have been disrupted by the act of setting the cooler down on the end of a fishing pole. There are many ways that the tip of your fishing pole can get damaged.

So let’s talk about what to do next. You need to replace the dented or broken tip with a sparkling new tip. It is not as hard as you think, and in no time you can make that fishing pole useful again.

The tips are held into place onto the fishing pole with special glue that is heat sensitive.

Step one: use a heat source, whether it is a heat gun or just a lighter, heat the tip end.  The heat will loosen the grip of the glue and the tip can be removed.  The metal will be hot, use gloves to protect your hands and fingers.

A good instructor would have told you this first, before you grabbed the hot tip!

Step two: clean up the tip of the fishing pole of the old glue. A little piece of sandpaper will be all you need for this.

Step three: measure the tip of the fishing pole. The fishing industry measures the tips in a rather strange way.  The inside diameter (ID) of the tip – which is the outside diameter (OD) of the end of the fishing pole, is measured in increments of /64’s (American measurement). The circle or ring of the tip (Where the fishing line goes through) is measured in metric measurements. It is measured on the outside of the tip circle.

You want an ID of a tip that is just big enough to go on the tip of the fishing pole and a ring that is big enough for the type of fishing line you plan on using.

Example: a 10R10 would be a size #10 millimeter circle (measured at the OD of the circle or ring and the second number is the ID of the tip. That means it is 10/64’s.

A 10R09 would be a size #10 millimeter circle just like a 10R10 but would have an ID that is only 9/64’s that would be used for a smaller fishing pole tip end. Being that the ID’s are in /64” increments it is easy to find the exact one that is right for the end of your pole. If the end of your pole was broke off and your new tip is going to be a little farther down on the pole’s length than the original one was, it is important to find the one that is right for the new OD measurement.

Tips are just like the guides along the length of your fishing pole. There are many types of materials used to build guides and tips.  It would make sense to use the same type of tip that you took off and matches the rest of the guides on your fishing pole. So whether it is stainless steel, tungsten, boat style or with an insert, order from whatever supplier you work with, the tip you need and a stick of tip glue. Your local fishing tackle store might even have supplies like this in stock.

Step four: heat tip glue and put some glue on the tip of the fishing pole. 

Step five: heat the tip just a little and heat the glue again, put some glue in the tube of the new tip.

Step six: heat the fishing tip end to heat up the glue that is on the tip of the fishing pole and heat the new tip up and install the new tip onto the fishing pole.

You have about five seconds before the glue will set up. You need to line up the new guide to match the other guides on the fishing pole. Look from the bigger end of the pole and look up through all the guides to see if the new tip is aligned with the other guides on the fishing pole. Move the new tip one way or the other to make sure it is straight with the other guides.

Step seven: clean up the excess glue that was pushed out when you installed the new tip onto the end of the fishing pole.

DONE

Step eight: GO Fishing!